Al Gore's Firm Clinches Lease in Durst's One Bryant Park

Al Gore's Generation Investment Management has finalized its lease inside Douglas Durst's One Bryant Park, the new office tower in Midtown that's among the nation's most environmentally friendly commercial buildings. (My colleague Eliot Brown broke the news of the pending lease in November.)

Generation, of which Mr. Gore is chairman, will relocate from Washington, D.C., into 5,500 square feet under the 10-year lease.

The Durst Organization was represented internally by Tom Bow and Eric Englehardt. Ken Rapp, Sally Wilson and Ramsey Feher of CB Richard Ellis represented Generation Investment.

Release below:

MAJOR SUSTAINABILITY INVESTOR SIGNS LEASE

AT BANK OF AMERICA TOWER

CBRE Arranges Deal for Generation Investment Management

New York, NY – May 27, 2008 – CB Richard Ellis announced today that it arranged a 10-year, 5,500-square-foot lease in the Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park for Generation Investment Management, an investment management firm co-founded and chaired by former United States vice president Al Gore.

“New York City is the nation’s investment capital and The Bank of America Tower is a premiere building with a bold environmental and sustainable vision,” said David Blood, Generation Investment Management’s senior partner. “We are proud to be in New York City and in this spectacular building

Relocating from Washington, D.C., Generation Investment Management selected Bank of America Tower, as the under-construction building, set to deliver later this year, is not only one of the pre-eminent office towers in the world, but is slated to become New York City’s first skyscraper to achieve the Platinum level of LEED certification. Platinum is the highest level attainable under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Green Building Rating System.

“The former vice president is a leading voice in promoting the environmental well-being of our planet,” said Ken Rapp, executive vice president, CBRE, who negotiated the lease on Generation Investment Management’s behalf, along with Sally Wilson, global director of environmental strategy, and Ramsey Feher, vice president. Generation Investment Management is focused on a new approach to sustainable investing. “Given the amount of environmental consideration that went into designing Bank of America Tower, it is a fitting location for Generation Investment Management, and represents the kind of innovation the firm is trying to advance,” Rapp added.

Developed by the Durst Organization and designed by Cook + Fox Architects, the 52-story, 2.1-msf Bank of America Tower is located on the west side of Sixth Avenue between 42^nd and 43^rd Streets opposite Bryant Park. The building’s anchor tenant and namesake, Bank of America, will take 1.1 msf in the building as its headquarters.

Made largely of recycled and recyclable materials, Bank of America Tower employs numerous environmentally-friendly elements, including floor-to-ceiling insulating glass to contain heat and maximize natural light, a greywater system and an air filtering-system that will clean and filter air as it enters and is exhausted from the building.

The Durst Organization was represented internally by Tom Bow and Eric Englehardt.